Lord Rennard sex allegations widen as Lib Dem minister admits he knew

The Lord Rennard scandal dramatically widened today after an alleged victim
said she had complained about the peer to Norman Lamb, a health minister,
and said she knew of nine other women who claim to have been molested by the
former Lib Dem chief executive.

By Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent, and Rowena Mason

3:14PM GMT 26 Feb 2013

The woman, named only as Susan, is a former county councillor and prospective Lib Dem MP, who attended a training conference in Peterborough with Lord Rennard in 2008.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that Lord Rennard had started acting inappropriately towards her in a hotel bar.

The woman said Lord Rennard repeatedly touched her before following her to a hotel toilet and asking her to follow him to his room.

She said that Lord Rennard has been accused of inappropriate behaviour by a number of other women and that the allegations date back as far as 2001.

Mr Lamb has said that both he and Ms Swinson wanted “action to be taken” after the allegations were made.

Meanwhile, Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, admitted he was aware of the "rumours" about the peer.

Lord Rennard faces a series of accusations from female members of the party that he molested them. He strenuously denies all the accusations.

There have also been separate claims that a young Lib Dem researcher ran in tears from Lord Rennard’s room after another incident in a Peterborough hotel in 2004.

The growing scandal has piled pressure on Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, who is facing questions over exactly how much he was told about the claims before they were made public.

Describing the moment Lord Rennard allegedly touched her, Susan said: “We were having a general chat and Chris was sitting next to me and he was chatting about people that we knew, people that we knew in common, and advice that he could give me as to how to be more successful.

“At first I thought it was an accident. His leg brushed against me and then his hand brushed against my leg. I kind of thought, ‘That’s your imagination’.

“So I moved away a little, then he moved a little closer. And I moved away again and the brushing of my leg kept continuing so when someone moved off the sofa that was next to me that meant I was a chair-distance away [so] I moved again.

“And when he had the opportunity he moved into that chair. I kept moving further away and eventually I said, ‘Look I’m going to go off to bed’ and he said, ‘I’ll walk up with you’.

“I thought, ‘No I’m not having this’ so I said, ‘I’m going to go to the toilet, it’s ok I’ll go up to bed alone’.

“I went to the toilet, came back out and he was stood there at the bottom of the stairs waiting to walk me up.

“We got to the top of the stairs and he suggested joining him in his room for another drink. I said no very politely and very firmly and walked away and got back to my room as quickly as I could.”

Susan said the alleged incident was “extremely distressing” and that her instant reaction was simply: “I want my daddy”.

The woman went on to say that she feared that by turning down the peer, she had “knocked her chances of any future success within the party”.

She said that Lord Rennard had an “almighty amount of power” and that he could “control” people’s future in the Lib Dems.

Asked whether she complained to any senior figures in the party the woman said she had spoken to Jo Swinson, the women’s minister, Norman Lamb, the health minister and Baroness Scott, the former president of the party.

“The person who dealt with it in the majority was Jo Swinson who said that she would get it dealt with.

“I knew that he [Lord Rennard] had been spoken to at the time and that this would stop. And it appeared to have for a period of time immediately afterwards.

“But it now turns out…that Danny [Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury] was the person who spoke to him and he denied any knowledge of it happening back then.”

Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, revealed he and colleagues "all picked up the rumours" about Lord Rennard some time before women publicly accused the party's ex-chief executive of sexually pestering them.

The Liberal Democrat veteran said he did not hear any speculation about the Lord Rennard's behaviour while he was leader more than a decade ago.

However, he suggested speculation about Lord Rennard was later on widespread, before allegations were made by several Liberal Democrat women on Channel Four last week.

Campaigning in Eastleigh, Lord Ashdown said: "We all picked up the rumours some time before the Channel Four thing."

Pressed later on when exactly he first heard complaints about Lord Rennard, he said: "There were rumours starting to circulate around Westminster and I expect they were heard by all people from all parties."

Asked again exactly what he heard and when, Lord Ashdown said he could not remember but it was probably "in the build up" to Channel Four's broadcast.

He said Nick Clegg was doing a good job at handling the situation but the party would need to be "self-critical" after inquiries into the allegations are finished.

"All these things are better decided through calm proper inquiries than at this stage being discussed in this fashion," he said.

The woman originally made claims about Lord Rennard on Channel 4 News last week.

The Lib Dems initially insisted that Mr Clegg had known nothing about the allegations until the Channel 4 News report on Thursday.

On Sunday, however, the Deputy Prime Minister returned from holiday in Spain to concede that his office had heard "indirect and non-specific concerns" as far back as 2008.

He said that his then chief of staff Mr Alexander had put the concerns to Lord Rennard who denied any inappropriate behaviour. The following year the peer stepped down as chief executive citing ill health.

But yesterday The Daily Telegraph published a 2010 email exchange with Mr Clegg's chief of staff Jonny Oates, in which it gave details of the dates and locations of four alleged incidents between 2003 and 2007 involving Lord Rennard, and made clear it knew the identities of the women who had complained.

It asked whether Mr Clegg was aware of the claims and whether it was true that Mr Alexander and Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson had looked into them.

Mr Oates responded at the time: “It is untrue to state that Mr Clegg was made aware of the incidents you allege.

“Given this fact, it is obviously untrue to state that Mr Clegg asked Jo Swinson or anyone else to carry out an investigation into the incidents that you allege.”

Susan said Mr Clegg had made a judgment call and “I think he made it wrong”, adding that she was “unsure” how he had not been made aware of the email between the Daily Telegraph and Mr Oates.

“I would be disappointed if Jonny hadn’t brought it to his attention and from what I’ve heard he didn’t bring it to Nick’s attention but I do think that maybe at that point somebody should have said we’ve got to look at this more seriously.”

She added: “[Mr Clegg] didn’t know how to deal with it then didn’t deal with it well.”

She said she welcomed the fact that the police have now become involved and are speaking to Lib Dem officials about the claims.

Mr Lamb told the Eastern Daily Press that he had advised the woman to take her complaint to Ms Swinson.

“A woman who I know and who I maintain good relations with talked to me about [her allegations]. I encouraged her to take it to Jo.

“I knew Jo was dealing with a number of women [in relation to allegations against Lord Rennard] and I know that Jo was taking it seriously.

“She did speak to Jo, who has now made a statement saying that she referred the issue on. That resulted in action being taken in the form of [Lord Rennard] being talked to by Danny Alexander.”